Corner pad and blank



- May 12,1970 @B.|..DLL' 3 5 6 CORNER PAD AND BLANK Filed May 15, 1968 INVENTOR.

BEENBAN L. bow.

BYM s jx, PM! 4 15m ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,511,464 CORNER PAD AND BLANK Brendan L. Doll, Patterson, N.C. 28661 Filed May 15, 1968, Ser. No. 729,157 Int. Cl. A47b 97/00 US. Cl. 248-345.1 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A corner pad for protecting comers of furniture and the like comprising a plurality of plies each having three right triangular walls arranged in a trihedral angle, the plies being disposed in contiguous nesting relation, and adhesive or other means for securing the plies together in assembled form. Also, a blank for use in such a corner pad comprising a generally L-shaped sheet of corrugated paperboard material having score lines therein dividing the sheet into four right triangular portions, and the sheet being foldable about the score lines to arrange the portions in a trihedral angle wherein two of the portions define two sides of the trihedral angle and the other two portions collectively define the third side thereof.

The present invention relates to a comer pad construction for protecting the corners of furniture and the like during shipment or other handling and more particularly to a trihedral corner pad capable of being manufactured in a substantially continuous, automated manner and to a novel blank for use in such a corner pad construction.

It is the usual practice in the shipment or other handling of furniture and the like to utilize corner pads of suitable shock-absorbent material around each of the corners thereof to protect these corners from damage. The most common corner pad utilized for this purpose is formed by manually folding a unitary blank of corrugated paperboard material which is suitably cut and scored to facilitate its being folded into the corner pad. Such corner pads are almost universally in the shape of a trihedral angle since this shape has been found to provide the desired protection with a minimum of material.

While providing adequate shock absorption and protection to the corners of furniture and the-like, these conventional corner pads require an excessive amount of paperboard material for a given amount of shock absorption since there is considerable waste of the paperboard material in the fabrication thereof. Further, there are many manual operations required in the fabrication of such corner pads including the folding of the unitary blanks into the final corner pads and these manual operations are very time consuming and expensive. The excessive waste of corrugated paperboard material and the necessary manual labor involved in the fabrication of these corner pads have combined to materially increase the cost of manufacturing such corner pads.

Further, these conventional trihedral corner pads have the very undesirable characteristic of frequently becoming unfolded during handling thereof. There have been many attempts to solve this problem, but these attempts have usually required a greater amount of paperboard material or increased fabrication steps which further increases the cost of the corner pads and renders the same undesirable for economic reasons.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel trihedral corner pad wherein the aforementioned deficiencies of prior conventional corner pads are obviated in that the corner pads are capable of being constructed or fabricated from suitable shock absorbent material in a substantially continuous, automated manner ice without any appreciable waste material and with a minimum of manual operations being required.

A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novel corner pad of the character described which is substantially prevented from becoming disassembled during handling or use.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded plan view of a blank suitably cut and scored for the formation of a corner pad in accordance with the present invention;

' FIG. 2 is an exploded isometric View of a corner pad formed in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the corner pad illustrated in FIG. 2 in assembled form.

Referring now to the drawings, there is illustrated therein a corner pad 10 (FIG. 3) incorporating the features of the present invention. Corner pad 10 comprises a plurality of plies disposed in contiguous, nesting relationship and of any suitable shock absorbent material which is sufiiciently flexible to be folded while still providing the required shock absorbency. Due to its relatively high shock absorbency and low cost, corrugated paperboard material is an excellent material for use in corner pad 10 and is therefore preferred.

The number of plies in corner pad 10 will vary in direct proportion to the amount of shock absorbency required by the end use to which the corner pad is to be put. Accordingly, these plies may vary in number from two up to any desired number.

In the illustrated embodiment, four plies 11, 12, 13 and 14 (FIG. 2) are shown and these plies are made up of three walls 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25; and 26, 27, 28, respectively. Each of the walls of the plies is of substantially right triangular configuration and adjacent pairs of walls in each ply are preferably interconnected along fold lines 30, 31, 32, 33, '34, 3'5, 36, 37, 38; and 40, 41, 42, respectively. One wall 17, 22, 25 or 28 of each ply is preferably formed of two equal and oppositely disposed right triangular portions 17a, 17b; 22a, 22b; 25a, 25b; or 28a, 28b, which have the adjacent sides thereof disposed in abutting relation and are connected to the other walls 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 24; or 26, 27, along their hypotenuses which correspond to fold lines 31, 32; 34, 35, 37, 38; or 41, 42.

The plies 11-14 of corner pad 10 are secured in contiguous nesting relationship by means 43 (FIG. 2), which is illustrated as an adhesive disposed between at least some of the contiguous walls of adjacent plies and are thereby substantially prevented from becoming disassembled during subsequent handling and use. Adhesive 43 may be of any desired type and may vary with the type of material used in the plies. A water soluble glue has been found to be entirely acceptable with corrugated papenboard and is attractive because of its low cost.

One of the very desirable characteristics of corner pad 10 is that it can be formed with a minimum of waste of material and in most instances can be formed with no waste of material. One example of how the plies 11-14 of corner pad 10 can be formed is shown in FIG. 1 which illustrates how an initially unitary, rectangular sheet of material can be cut into four blanks. 11'; 12'; 13'; and 14; which are adapted to be folded to form the four plies 11-14, without any waste of material. Of course, there are other ways in which the plies can be formed, as for example, from a web of material, from a much larger sheet, or from a narrower sheet of a width corresponding to the width of a single ply.

Another equally desirable characteristic of corner pad 10 is that it can be formed in a substantially continuous,

automated manner with a minimum of manual labor being required. In this respect, the blanks 11'14 can be cut from a sheet or web of material and simultaneously scored along lines 30, 31', 32; 33', 34', 35'; 36', 37', 38'; and 40', 41', 42', respectively, which divide each blank into four right triangular portions 15, 16', 17a, 17b; 20', 21', 22a, 22b; 23', 24, 25a, 25b; and 26', 27, 28a, 28b. This cutting and scoring can be performed in a continuous manner upon successively fed sheets or upon a web of indeterminate length.

After the blanks are cut and scored, adhesive 43 can be applied to selceted ones thereof and the blanks can then be folded along the score lines to arrange the portions thereof into a trihedral angle. A plurality of the folded blanks are then placed in contiguous, nesting relationship and then become plies of the corner pad once the adhesive has set or dried.

It is therefore believed apparent that a novel corner pad is provided by the present invention which is capable of being formed in a substantially continuous, automated manner and thereby materially reducing the manual labor required in the fabrication thereof and also reducing to a minimum the waste of material in the fabrication of the corner pad. Further a novel corner pad is provided which is substantially prevented from becoming disassembled during handling and/or use.

In the drawings and specification, there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A corner pad for protecting the corners of furniture or the like during shipment or other handling, said corner pad comprising a plurality of plies each including first, second and third walls each of substantially right triangular configuration and being interconnected and collectively arranged to define a trihedral angle, said plies being disposed in contiguous, nesting relationship, and adhesive means for securing the same together.

2. A corner pad according to claim 1 wherein the walls of each of said plies are interconnected along fold lines corresponding to the sides of each wall defining the included right angle therebetween.

3. A corner pad according to claim 2 wherein one of the walls of each ply comprises two oppositely directed right triangular portionshaving the adjacent sides thereof disposed in abutting relation and being respectively connected to the other walls along said fold lines corresponding to the hypotenuses of Said portions, said abutting sides of said two portions bisecting the included right angle of said one wall and dividing said one wall into its two portions.

-4. A corner pad according to claim 3 wherein each of the other walls of each ply is integral throughout and wherein said divided wall of each ply is contiguous to an integral Wall of the adjacent ply so that the integral wall maintains the adjacent sides of the portions of said divided Wall in abutting relation.

5. A corner pad according to claim 4 wherein said plies are formed of corrugated paperboard material.

6. A corner pad for protecting the corners of furniture or the like during shipment or other handling, said corner pad comprising a plurality of substantially identical plies each including first, second and third walls interconnected and collectively arranged to define a trihedral angle, said plies being disposed in contiguous, nesting relationship, and means for securing the plies together.

7. A corner pad according to claim 6 wherein said walls of each ply are each of substantially right triangular configuration, and said walls of each ply are interconnected along fold lines corresponding to the sides of each wall defining the included right angle therebetween.

8 A blank for use in a corner pad construction comprising a generally L-shapecl sheet of corrugated paperboard material, said sheet having score lines therein diverging outwardly from the juncture of the side edges defining the included right angle of the L-shape, said score lines dividing the sheet into four generally right triangular portions, a first pair of these right triangular portions being interconnected along one of the score lines which defines with the other score lines the included right angles of said first pair of right triangular portions, and the other pair of right triangular portions each being interconnected to a corresponding one of the first pair of portions along said other score lines which correspond to the hypotenuses of said other pair of right triangular portions, said blank being adapted to be folded along said score lines to arrange said portions in a trihedral angle for use in a corner pad construction with said first pair of portions defining two sides of the trihedral angle and said second pair collectively defining the third side thereof.

9. A corner pad for protecting the corners of furniture or the like during shipment or other handling, said corner pad comprising a plurality of plies each including first, second and third walls interconnected and collectively arranged to define a trihedral angle, each of said plies having a cut line extending substantially from the point of the trihedral angle to the base thereof, said plies being disposed in contiguous, nesting relationship and being arranged in said nesting relationship so that the cut lines in adjacent plies are out of registry with each other so that adjacent plies maintain each other in the trihedral angle arrangement, and means for securing the plies together.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,476,197 7/ 1949 Kincaid 22914 2,509,468 571950 Anderson 229l4 3,151,832 10/1964 Doll 248345.1 3,220,683 11/1965 Doll 248-345.1 3,337,111 8/ 1967 Petriekis 229-14 CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 22914 Disclaimer 3,5l1,46-1. B1'endan L. Doll, Patterson, NC. CORNER PAD AND BLANK. Patent dated May 12, 1970. Disclaimer filed Oct. 3, 1972, by the assignee, Cellu Products Company. Hereby enters this disclaimer to claim 6 of said patent.

[Ofio'ial Gazette May Q7,1975.] 

